The special forces and the police were gathering for a strategic meeting to define their plan of action regarding Rubis. For the first time, the three trainees were allowed to attend.
Manu Guis, a trainee serving as an assistant in training; Shin Rel, a senior robotics technician; and Grid Urus, a senior IT technician—all three stood at the back of the room. Six other people were positioned along the sides of the hall, and facing the trainees were Haru, head of the engineering team; Tom, chief of the police forces; and finally Céline, commander of the Fifteenth Special Forces Unit.
"Alright, welcome everyone—especially you, our dear little trainees,"Tom began with a smile that looked completely out of place on his aggressive face. Shin could feel Tom's gaze directed at him; for some reason, Tom seemed to like the young man. Suppressing a grin, he continued.
"Here are the five main members of the city's police force, along with two members of the special forces—Haru and Céline—with whom you'll be working hand in hand during your national internship, which lasts one year, as a reminder."
Surprisingly, the first to speak was Manu. Usually withdrawn and quiet, he was not someone to judge by appearances—when it came to academics, he was the most capable person in the entire city.
"There are only six of you to manage the entire station, and only two members from the special forces?"
His usually frail and soft voice echoed throughout the room, making Grid and Shin realize that it was strange, considering the size of the building and the workload they were supposed to handle.
"You've got a brain in there, shorty!" Tom laughed. "And you're not wrong. Most of the work is handled by robots. The real operations are managed by this team."
Including Tom himself, there were five members of the city's police force: Nitro the IT specialist, Maria the investigator, Harry the secretary, and Gon the local patrol officer.
"To think there's nothing but incompetents here…"Grid muttered, his eyes clearly showing deep disappointment.
The police officers bristled at the remark, their blood boiling with rage as their faces flushed red—but what could they do? After all, Grid was the adopted son of the director of Myriad Academy, who was also the city's mayor and a Level 2 Awakened.
Grid wore a satisfied expression as he saw his arrogant comment provoke the police. It fed his sadistic desire to feel superior, a feeling he was willing to indulge at any cost… even the worst.
"Oh? Why so much arrogance, young man?"Céline finally spoke. "Everyone here is a promising Level 1 Awakened—except the three of you. You'd do well to put your ego aside."
The entire room listened attentively, carefully watching their behavior in front of her. After all, a Level 2 Awakened was not the kind of existence one wanted to provoke… for better or worse.
"That just means you can shove it where you're thinking. Hehe!"
As usual, Shin seized the opportunity to put his enemy down. Manu's face clearly said it all upon hearing his friend's remark: 'That vengeful bastard… he's really hopeless.'
The room fell into shock at the insolence of the blue-haired young hero. He had a real talent for bringing conversations to a dead stop.
"Ahem. Let's move on. All this to say that Level 1 Awakened are more than enough to manage a mid-sized city like this—especially since you also have me."
The elderly woman carefully weighed her words. A Level 2 Awakened was powerful enough to raze an entire city, yet what she was about to say was even more astonishing.
"And I'm not alone. I also have a civilian here—though she is a Ranger. This is Haru, our transformer engineer, and a Level 1 Ranger."
The silence that followed was even heavier than before. You could hear a fly buzzing through the room.
What Céline had just revealed was truly shocking.
In this lower world, aside from Awakened, there existed terrifying beings feared by all Awakened since ancient times: monsters. Rangers were ordinary humans, incapable of awakening—but dormant within them were monster genes left behind by evolution.
"Wait… does that mean she has a Transformer?!"Tom asked in disbelief, a perfectly reasonable reaction. A Transformer was a masterpiece of technology—a combat suit that revealed a Ranger's latent potential and granted them the abilities of monsters waiting to be awakened within.
"I thought less than five percent of the population had the potential to become a Ranger—and even fewer actually succeed…"Manu muttered, stunned, his jaw nearly hitting the floor. Equipped, Haru could rival Céline herself—though only up to that point, since Ranger ranks were fixed.
"You're well informed,"Haru replied softly, her voice gentle and melodic, snapping the heroes out of their shock."But you can think of me as more than just an ordinary person."
Everyone in the room seemed impressed by the revelation—everyone except Céline and Shin.
Céline, because she was Haru's direct superior and already knew.And Shin, who instead of being impressed felt uneasy. His instincts told him something was off between Céline and Haru. If Haru truly was a Level 1 Ranger, then in terms of combat ability, she stood on equal footing with Céline… yet they were not equals. Their relationship was clearly one of superior and subordinate.
That was the real problem.
What were they hiding?And more importantly—would this become an obstacle to his dream?
If that was the case…Then perhaps it was better not to think about it.